The Stolen Mask
by SemiInsaneCentipede
Summary: An excavation turns south with the discovery of a new Pillar Man, but that's the least of the Speedwagon Foundation's concerns... A new mask is on the loose. Tasked with the destruction of a vampire and the mask, Ohkran, Liev and Bernard must combat the forces of the notorious gang, 'The Badloves,' that appear to be allied with the vampire. Will the three of them be enough to win?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone, SemiInsaneCentipede here with the first chapter of my new fic: The Stolen Mask. This is my second fic overall and my first for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. I'm very excited to start this story, as it has been on my mind for some time. I do not own JoJo's or any of the artists, musicians or bands referenced. Please enjoy!**

**The Stolen Mask**

**Chapter 1**

**Near Alice Springs, Australia**

As the yellow glow over the red desert and low, pale green shrubbery lost its harshness, the old man wiped the sweat from his forehead and climbed out of the tunnel. The sand beneath his boots crunched as he walked back to the temporary house that had been built into a shipping container with the large wheel of the Speedwagon Foundation printed on the sides. He fell into a fold-out chair and let out a pent-up sigh. This whole excavation had been his idea, but sometimes he felt as though he'd never find anything. He reached into the esky he kept beside the chair and uncapped a beer. After a long draught he groaned, _that's better,_ and reclined into a more comfortable position. He had other employees still working in the tunnel, so it wasn't as if he was wasting time. In fact, his age and rank excepted him from the work, but such was his enthusiasm for the project that he couldn't resist doing some of the work himself.

Placing the beer down, he reached into a pocket and procured a packet of cigarettes. He leaned to one side for better access to the pocket where he kept his lighter but coughed abruptly into one hand as he did so. A splatter of dark red and with black sediment now rested on the back of his left hand. He looked at it with disdain. "Better not." He grumbled, pocketing the cigarettes and taking another long swig of beer. He looked around and found a harsh beauty in the semi-arid landscape. The old man scratched the side of his face and found short, rough whiskers. He normally remained clean-shaven, but he'd poured every spare minute into the excavation. Ever since the new tech had detected empty space underground, his adventurous spirit had demanded that he see what was there. _Especially,_ he thought, looking at his hand,_ before I die._

"Haddrock! Haddrock!" The cries for his attention jolted the old man from the stupor he hadn't realised he'd fallen into. Only the smallest skerrick of the sun remained above the horizon now. Haddrock looked up to see one of the younger members of the operation running towards him excitedly. "What is it?" He asked, slowly rising from the chair.

"Sir, we've found the space! Come look!" Revitalised upon hearing this, Haddrock's fatigue disappeared and he placed down his empty bottle. "Well? Let's go!" The worker turned around and Haddrock followed with the run of someone who'd had leg problems before.

They descended into the tunnel with lanterns and torches, a low babble could be heard further down, the voices of many excited people trying not to speak too loudly. "Coming through, coming through!" Haddrock grumbled as he burst past them, his uneven gait giving him a strange wobble. He slowed to a walk once he was past everyone and the one leading him stepped aside respectfully to allow him into their discovery.

Haddrock's breathing echoed throughout the circular chamber. Intricate patterns detailed every visible surface, a central pillar reached the five metres from floor to ceiling. Rubies, emeralds and sapphires decorated the pillar, and the sculpture of a man jutting out from the pillar's side, looking directly at Haddrock with cold dead stone eyes. Haddrock shone his torch around the cavern, as the light passed over the gems, the whole room lit up hypnotically as the light refracted. When he'd started this investigation, he hadn't known what to expect, but now that he had found it, he realised that it was exactly what he had desired. He walked around, eyes filled with a youthful wonder. On the back of the pillar, he found a face without eyes. He examined it for a minute, then walked back towards the entrance of the cavern and picked up a pickaxe someone had left and walked back around the pillar.

Wedging the point of the pickaxe around the mask, he jiggled the pick and the face fell out into his other, free hand with a cascade of dust and small rocks. Haddrock noiselessly placed down the pick and shone the torch over the mask's features. He walked back around the front and looked at the sculpture of the man. He was impressively sculpted, shirtless, well-defined muscles and in an extravagant pose. Most striking was the height, well over three metres tall and possessing a primal royalty about him. "I believe, sir, that I know what you are." Haddrock muttered. He sighed. His job had suddenly become more important. Haddrock's throat itched and he coughed a dirty cough into his hand, realising too late he'd coughed on the mask. He released the mask as it absorbed the blood and large white spikes curved out of its back. It clattered loudly on the ground. "Everything alright, sir?" Someone called.

"Yes, yes, I'll be out in a minute." Haddrock called back, picking the mask back up as the spikes retracted.

Haddrock emerged and addressed the crowd that waited expectantly, holding the mask behind his back. "Good work, everyone." He begun. "But don't all rush in, we've uncovered a Pillar Man." He was met with a disappointing silence. "Pillar Men? No?" Haddrock sighed, then pointed at an employee. "You, you're the oldest after me, yes? How old are you?"

"Uh, thirty-three, sir."

"And you don't know what I'm talking about?"

"No sir, sorry." Haddrock sighed again.

"What year is it?"

"Two-thousand-and-ten, sir."

"This is… you… have none of you done your Speedwagon Foundation history?" Silence again. Haddrock waved dismissively. "Whatever, no-one is to go back there, someone call the Foundation and tell them we've found an unawakened Pillar Man. Get them to send assistance."

The helicopters landed the next morning. Incredibly high-powered UV lights were unloaded and wheeled down into the tunnel. Haddrock was congratulated by some higher-ups while his employees begun packing up the operation. Haddrock watched now from the comfort of his room. The blood he coughed was now more black than red, he'd been promised a big paycheque when he returned to civilisation, but he feared he wouldn't live that long, he'd had the smoker's cough for years now, after all. In the afternoon, someone knocked on his door and he hastily put what he'd been working on into a drawer and answered.

"Well, Haddrock, it's done. We killed it." It was the leader of the response team.

"Well, that's a relief." Haddrock replied. "It wasn't likely to hurt anyone where it was, but we couldn't just leave it there with everyone knowing what it was." The leader nodded solemnly. "I'm no fan of attacking while the enemy's asleep, but a monster of that power… I've only seen the old videos from the Nazis, but you might remember how they were."

"I was nine when the Pillar Men awakened, not part of the Foundation then, so I learned about them the same way you did." Haddrock admitted. "That footage still chills me to this day."

"I see. Well, I'd say we've done good work today." The leader hesitated for a moment. "You didn't happen to find a mask in there at all, did you?" Haddrock furrowed his brow.

"No, no mask." He lied and the leader nodded.

"Good, good. We can't have another one of those running around. Well, I'll see you later, I suppose. We both have reports to write."

"That we do. Farewell." Haddrock bid, shutting the door.

Haddrock took all his things from the cupboards and drawers and packed them away into bags. He sat beside the driver of one of the trucks transporting the shipping container houses away for the ride to Alice Springs, where they would make sure everything was in order before continuing north to Darwin. Haddrock coughed a few times on the ride, concealing the blood in a handkerchief. They arrived in Darwin as night began to fall and Haddrock sighed as he fell back onto his bed after unpacking all his things. This accommodation was also provided by the Speedwagon Foundation and, though small, suited all Haddrock's needs in life.

Haddrock coughed. It was muffled by his shut lips and he had to roll onto his side as the blood that he had dislodged had fallen back into his throat. He coughed a few more times, each one racking his body. He scrambled to sit up, one hand over his mouth with dark blood welling up inside of it. _Is this it?_ His body was jolted again. His throat felt raw and dry. He staggered to the kitchen, opened up the tap and thrust his head beneath the clear stream. The water soothed his throat, its coolness drawing a relieved sigh from him. He straightened up and shudderingly inhaled a lungful of air._ Awful. Terrible._ He walked back to his bed, leaning heavily on the wall. He looked over to his desk and fell into the chair that sat before it. With his elbow on the desk and his head in one hand, Haddrock opened a desk drawer with his other hand and reached in. His bloodied hand gripped the stone mask, as he did, the pale spikes shot out again, several puncturing the wood of the desk. When the spikes withdrew, he placed the mask before him.

After a moment, he lifted it lightly with both hands and held it over his face, looking out through the eye holes. There was no noise, only that of Haddrock's heavy breathing as he looked out at the world around him through the mask. The cold stone reflected his breath so that he felt a light wind all over his face. He coughed again and threw the mask away as the spikes shot out hungrily once more. _No, not with that blood._ He grabbed a knife from the kitchen and returned to the mask, which lay face-up on his desk. _I'm a good person, _he told himself, but he didn't believe it, so he affirmed it aloud. "I'm a good person," He said shakingly "I can control it. I am _not_ evil." Saying this, he cut his right hand with the knife. Blood appeared along the thin cut in a red line with small droplets forming. Then they fell across his skin, a morbid image was drawn across him. He dropped the knife and it clattered at his feet. He reached out with his right hand, hovering it centimetres away from the mask, hesitant. He coughed again, the blood splattered onto the floor. Haddrock grit his teeth, grabbed the mask with his bleeding hand and pulled it to his face.

**Speedwagon Foundation Call Centre, Texas, United States of America**

"Speedwagon Foundation, Employee Concerns Department. How can we be of assistance?"

"Haddrock… He…He's a monster!"

"Slow down please! Is this a concern about a fellow employee?"

"He's… He was my boss, but now… He just drained the blood from… from…!"

"Is everything alright?!"

"_Wrrrrrryyyyyyyy…_"

"Hello! Hello? Is anyone there?"

**Later**

"Why didn't you report this call as soon as you ended it?"

"I'm sorry sir! I didn't know what to make of it!"

"Damn it! The repercussions of this could be catastrophic!"

"What do we do, sir?"

"Call all of our branches!"

"A-all of them, sir?"

"In every country! Put governments on watch for Haddrock! Do not let him leave Australia!"

"Y-yessir!"

**Even later**

"Sir! We've found Haddrock!"

"Excellent, where is he?"

"Well, he got on a plane-"

"WHAT?!"

"Please sir, it was a domestic flight to Melbourne."

"That's… still not great."

"S-so what now?"

"Contact our Stand users. I recall we have at least _one _in Melbourne."

"Uh… Stand user… sir?"

"Stands are… Look, I'll make the calls, you just… just go home."

"Sir."

**Vnukovo Airport, Moscow, Russia**

"This way, Ohkran." The slender man looked over at the one who had called him from behind dark sunglasses, nodded once, then followed. "So, to Australia, yes?" Ohkran asked as they walked, his black trench coat swaying slightly in his wake. "Yes, we've got a situation with a vampire."

"'We have', or 'they have?'" Ohkran pressed. The other man frowned.

"'We,' Ohkran, we're the Speedwagon Foundation wherever we are." There was a moment of silence. "'We' also won't be tolerating any shit from you, Ohkran."

"Come on, I'm just pulling your leg."

"Well you don't do it very well. Now hurry up, we have a private jet waiting." Ohkran let out a low whistle at this.

"Well, it's certainly no puddle-jumper." Ohkran commented at the sight of the large black jet, every sleek line of it screamed _speed._ "So, is this a solo mission, or are you just trying to get rid of me?"

"You will meet with some other Stand users and work _with _them." Ohkran frowned at the emphasis.

"Hey, I said I was joking earlier."

"Whatever, just get on. You'll be making a stop-over in Nepal on the way."

"Nepal? Why would I want to go to that frozen wasteland?" The man abruptly stopped walking and looked at Ohkran, who also stopped and stared back. "You are from northern Russia, yes?"

"_Da._" He responded. The man looked hard at Ohkran to see if he could elicit a realisation but received none. "Joking again, I suppose?"

"_Da._" The other man sighed. "I thought the enemy was in Australia, did they suddenly mount Everest?" Ohkran smiled when he said this, thinking himself quite witty.

"Yes, you've got three days to climb up there yourself and defeat the enemy."

"Wait-"

"A joke, I assure you." Humbled, Ohkran started muttering as they continued across the tarmac.

"Not funny when you do it." He grumbled.

The engines started as they drew near, and the pair separated on the stairs leading to the jet's interior. "The flight to Nepal shouldn't be too long, not in this jet. Shouldn't have any time to get bored." Ohkran smirked.

"Yes, well, I'll always have my literature just in case." He lifted up the silver attaché he'd been carrying with him. The other man sighed. "Yes, yes. I suppose you will. Don't make a mess on the jet!" With that, they parted ways and the hatch closed as Ohkran walked deeper into the jet.

"Now, where should I sit?" He pondered aloud as the jet started to move and he looked around. There were only two rows of chairs, and each row had five sets of two chairs facing each other. The chairs were big and looked comfortable, as Ohkran walked closer to one, he could see that each one possessed six different ways to recline the chair. "Here, I think." He concluded, picking somewhere halfway between the rear and cockpit. As he went to sit, he was violently thrown to the back of the jet as it rapidly accelerated and became airborne. Ohkran's feet left the ground and a knock on his shoulder from one chair sent him spiralling down the jet's length. His attaché burst open upon hitting the wall, and a colourful array of pornographic magazines spilled everywhere. Hearing a cacophony of banging and Russian profanities, the co-pilot stuck his head out and said in rough Russian. "Uh sir, the seatbelt sign is still on." Ohkran yelled back at him angrily and the co-pilot thought for a moment. "My Russian isn't very good, could you say that again, simpler, please?" Ohkran yelled again and the co-pilot, recognising one word, withdrew his head feeling that he could guess the rest.

The jet levelled out and Ohkran set about putting his 'literature' back into his case. He went back to the seat he had chosen and sat down, rubbing the back of his head. "I'll bet they're laughing up there." He mumbled to himself as he explored the various combinations of ways that he could recline. After finding an acceptable balance, Ohkran set about reading an English phrasebook that was sitting in a pouch. Ohkran was an adept English speaker, but it never hurt to go back over what he knew.

**Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, Nepal**

A few people stood around a large man on the tarmac. Everyone except the man was dressed in Speedwagon Foundation uniform. Winter uniform specifically, with jackets that they pulled tighter around themselves when they could. The man towered above all the others and wore less. He was heavily tanned and well-muscled, his head shaved bald and his face clean-shaven. He wore long pants, but no shoes, something that seemed the height of stupidity, but the cold did not seem to bother him. He wore no shirt, but instead had two scarves, big hand-woven ones that hung down from his neck and covered up most of his upper body but leaving his stomach for the world to see. The scarves were different colours, but both were dull in pigment and had small offshoot braids on the sides that each ended in a differently coloured bead.

The black jet landed on the runway smoothly and was directed off the main runway, the white Speedwagon Foundation logo on its sides drawing the attention of many onlookers in terminals. When the jet stopped moving, Ohkran peered out a window to get a glimpse of his new ally. "He's huge!" He exclaimed. A truck approached the jet to refuel it and Ohkran hastily stood and set about buttoning up his trench coat to make himself look bigger. Stairs were brought to the jet's side and the big man ducked his head as he climbed aboard. Ohkran reached up to his blond hair and flicked down his sunglasses as the big man's footsteps approached. The big man asked something in one language, gesturing to the seat opposite Ohkran, and the other man responded in a different language, but with a similar gesture. The big man sat down. "English?" Ohkran asked hopefully.

"English." The big man agreed.

A large, tanned hand was extended. "My name is Liev." Ohkran clasped the hand with his own.

"I am Ohkran, I'm looking forward to working with you." Liev nodded and sat back. A silence ensued that unnerved the Russian. Ohkran had no insecurities about his body, but some were now starting to develop as Liev sat in front of him. _Those abs are the bigger than my hands! _Liev spoke, startling Ohkran, who had fallen into a trance of muscular jealousy. "Do you know anything about our mission?" His voice was deep, Ohkran imagined it echoed around his chest after he spoke.

"I know that there is a vampire we must kill." He responded. "And that they're in Australia, which is mostly desert, so you'd think the sun would kill it for us." Liev didn't react to this, simply nodding and folding his arms over his chest.

"You, uh… get cold in that?" Ohkran asked, nodding towards Liev's lack of proper clothing. Liev shrugged. "Not anymore. I've trained in the mountains for years. I don't feel much cold anymore."

"Right." Ohkran nodded. As the jet started to move, Liev pointed out the window.

"That mountain, in fact." Ohkran followed the finger and pouted a little. _Of course he trained on Mount Everest. Probably right at the peak. Unaided too._ A happier thought struck Ohkran after this. _Thank god we're using Stands, not our actual bodies._ "Have you ever fought a vampire?" Ohkran asked and Liev shook his head. "There hasn't been a vampire sighted for two decades."

"What about other Stand users? Ever fought one?"

"No. Yourself?" Liev asked and Ohkran smiled. _A point of superiority!_

"I have disposed of a few problematic Stand users around Russia and Eastern Europe." He responded. Liev bowed his head. "Then I suppose I will be learning from you on this mission."

**Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne, Australia**

Bernard grew a concerned look on his face as he read through the report the Speedwagon Foundation employee had handed him. A Speedwagon vest rested on his shoulders, the zipper undone showed an orange high-visibility shirt underneath. "Is this all we have?" He asked the employee. "Not quite, sir. That's the first report, our findings have since advanced." Bernard stood up. "Well? Let's see them."

"No report has been written; we only have verbal confirmation." Bernard's brow furrowed further at this. "That's very unusual." The employee nodded agreement.

"Yes. It's also unusual for a whole group of our information gatherers to commit suicide at the time."

"What!?" Bernard exclaimed. The employee's voice turned strained.

"Yes, suicide. We've done several analyses of the scene, but all signs point to mass suicide." Bernard sat back down and crossed his arms, troubled. "What was the information they had for us?"

"They allegedly had evidence of the involvement of The Badloves." Bernard looked up at this.

"That old gang? I thought they'd gone back underground." Bernard rubbed his dark stubble contemplatively. "As did we all. They may have resurfaced. Or someone may be using their name to inspire fear." Bernard sighed.

"Well, we're going to find out. No-one just 'commits suicide' when gangs are involved." The employee smiled. "I hope so, sir. Oh, there are your colleagues now." Bernard stood again and ran a hand through his longish brown hair. Ohkran and Liev were being led by another employee. The three met and continued to be directed out of the airport.

A large four-wheel drive waited for them in the multilevel carpark. "The location of the safehouse we've arranged has already been inputted into the navigation system." An employee told them. "A satellite phone is in the back, it can't be traced and has a direct link to a task force made specifically for this mission." Ohkran approached the car.

"Good, same old protocol, we'll call when we make it there." He opened up a front door and climbed in. "This is not the driver's seat." He realised aloud.

"We're a bit different down here." Bernard told him as he climbed into the driver's seat on the other side of the car. A loud thud made the pair look abruptly to the back seat, where Liev had knocked his head on the roof while getting in. "Y'right?" Bernard asked and Liev grunted as he squeezed his massive frame into the car, his head sideways against the roof so that he could sit up straight. "Didn't sit on the sat phone, did you?" Bernard asked with more urgency.

"I broke one on a mission in Lithuania," Ohkran added "the Foundation was _not_ happy."

"Phone's fine." Liev grunted. "Just me."

**Softsill, Melbourne, Australia**

Softsill was an outer suburb of Melbourne, and one that Bernard had never been to before. "Get a good look at everything." He told the other two. "We'll have maps at the safe house, but it's good to know what everything looks like." Liev tried to take this advice, his head grinding against the roof of the car as he turned it to look out the window. The safe house was unremarkable and Ohkran smiled, just the way he liked it. In the garage, Liev stretched and rejoiced in his returned mobility. Ohkran and Bernard set about exploring their new abode. It had three small bedrooms, a kitchen, one bathroom and a larger area that was a combination of dining and lounge rooms. A large table sat in the middle of the larger room, set out on it was another satellite phone, some maps and several printed out reports.

"Ow." Liev complained as he knocked his head on another doorframe while entering the house, a large gym bag full of his possessions over one shoulder. Ohkran finished his overview of the house and returned to where Bernard now sat in the large room. "Looks safe enough." He declared and Bernard nodded. "What have we got here?" Ohkran picked up a map of Softsill and sat down. Liev entered the room and saw the other two studying documents. "I'm taking the first room down the hallway." He announced. "I don't have to squeeze to get there." No response came, the other two were too absorbed in their readings. Liev sat in a chair awkwardly and started twiddling his large thumbs, looking around at the papers scattered across the table. He picked one up and looked at it blankly; he could speak English, but he couldn't read it. He continued to pretend to understand it as he waited for one of the other men to say something.

After a few more minutes, Bernard placed the report he'd been reading back onto the table and stood. Liev looked up hopefully. "Right, it looks to me that we've got some work to do." Ohkran looked up from the map. "We have a vampire to catch and the highly likely involvement of The Badloves gang." Bernard continued. "This suburb, Softsill, is known to be a place where The Badloves operate. We'll investigate, find out how they're involved, detain them and get them to lead us to the vampire." Ohkran stood now.

"Sounds like a plan to me." He agreed as Liev hastily stood as well.

"Yeah… let's do that." He supplied. Bernard allowed a small smirk.

"Gentlemen, let's get to work."

**I hope you guys enjoyed this, it's certainly something I've come to be passionate about. I'd be interested in any feedback anyone has to offer. Once the story gets to the fighting, I might use part of my notes at the end of a chapter to present the Stands' statistics if you guys are interested. I'll see you all (hopefully) in the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi everyone, SemiInsaneCentipede here with the second chapter of The Stolen Mask. I do not own JoJo's or any of the bands, musicians or artists referenced. Please enjoy!**

**The Stolen Mask**

**Chapter 2**

**Streets of Softsill, Australia**

White chalk outlined where the bodies had been, dried blood-stained patches of the carpet near where the necks had been drawn. Bernard peered over the police tape at the grim scene a few metres away. A Foundation investigator talked at Bernard; the man didn't react to any of the information aside from the occasional nod. Something nagged at the back of his mind that he did not like, but he put it from his mind; it was not something he could easily pursue at the moment.

Ohkran was in the next room over, where all the dead workers were currently being kept in body bags, they would later be seized by police for autopsy. He unzipped one of the bags, remaining at arm's length in anticipation of the smell. Every corpse that he had seen in this room had all died in the same way: a knife to the throat. The knives used were steak knives, which lay, bloodied, on a roll of white cloth on a table nearby. They were not knives made for killing, supporting the notion that this had been a mass suicide. The Foundation's forensics department had already confirmed that the fingerprints on the knives were that of the workers themselves. He zipped the bag back up. Every single body had an expression of horror on its face.

Liev waited outside with his arms crossed. He knew he'd been left out here in case he knocked something important over, but that's not what he'd been told. "Stand Users are drawn to other Stand users." Ohkran had said. "You should guard the door and discourage anyone from starting any problems." Bernard had added that he should remain 'inconspicuous,' but Liev wasn't sure that part was working. Everyone who walked by on both sides of the street ogled at him very obviously. He thought it was because of his two large scarves, rather than that aside from those scarves, he was shirtless in public, and in peak condition too. The eyes ranged from interested to jealous, but Liev remained in place like a stone, neither relishing nor shrinking from the persistent gazes.

A green limousine drove past slowly with heavily tinted windows. Liev, with no knowledge of the common events of the area, was certain that this was an unusual occurrence. He'd never even heard of a limousine being green! It was moving past with suspicious slowness. Maybe they'd just think he was a bouncer for a club… Liev knew he was being watched. _Let's see how they respond to this,_ he thought. He closed his eyes and concentrated. The air around him shimmered purple with Stand power, he held it for a second before dropping his focus. He thought he felt a response, extremely weak… or maybe just subdued, possibly a reactionary emittance of power quickly and consciously silenced. Liev's hand dropped to his sides and he adjusted his stance for action, but the limousine just passed by, never altering its pace.

"Our investigation has not turned up any evidence that these workers should have any reason to end their lives." The employee explained to Bernard. "Let alone all together at the same time." There was silence between the two. "Do you think, maybe, that a Stand did this?" Bernard inhaled sharply and looked sidelong at the employee, seeming like he was about to speak, but remained unforthcoming. Ohkran walked into the room and whispered something in Bernard's ear and the pair left together. "Definitely a Stand." Bernard confirmed to Ohkran.

"Yes. All the victims look horrified, either they saw something so terrible they all took themselves out in exactly the same way, or they were manipulated into doing it." The exited the building.

"We're leaving." Bernard told Liev, who nodded.

"Good."

"Did anything happen?" Ohkran asked, concerned at Liev's enthusiasm.

"We might be being watched." The larger man confirmed.

"What makes you say that?" Bernard queried.

"Are green limousines common around this area?"

"Green limousines aren't common anywhere."

"Then we're definitely being watched." Liev stated. "I detected the smallest hint of Stand energy from it."

"Coincidence?" Bernard pondered, Ohkran shut him down straight away.

"Not possible. Not with a strange car and Stand energy." He explained. "It would be immensely foolish to assume it's a coincidence."

"Then we'd best be on our guard." Bernard concluded. "I must say that it's vexing that the enemy is onto us already."

"I'd say this confirms the involvement of The Badloves, wouldn't you?"

"I agree." Liev announced abruptly. The question had clearly been directed to Bernard, but he was eager to not be left out. He was the most inexperienced of the three, but he refused to be made to look like it. Ohkran took this in his stride. "Good. Bernard, drive us back to the safe house a different way than the one we came here on."

The three piled into the car and Bernard drove. After a few minutes Bernard and Ohkran felt an immense presence suddenly behind them. The car jolted as Bernard slammed the brake pedal and the pair turned to look at Liev, almost knocking heads as they did so. "What was that?" They asked in an alarmed unison. Liev dropped the energy again. "Sorry, I wanted to see if we were being followed by those people." Bernard and Ohkran took a moment to calm down.

"O-okay… alright…okay…"

"Just… just warn us next time… please." Liev nodded and the rest of the drive continued in silence.

Night fell as they returned to the safe house. The three decided to take shifts keeping watch throughout the night, but their caution was fruitless as no-one attacked the establishment. Bernard was on watch as the sun shone through an east-facing window. Liev emerged from his room first, followed by Ohkran a good ten minutes later. "We're going out for breakfast." Bernard announced. "We'll get fed and be able to look for some signs of The Badloves' influence on the area."

"What sort of things are we looking for?" Liev asked and Ohkran answered.

"Anything typical of a gang or mafia controlling an area. Shops paying protection fees, big dudes in coats watching everyone, guns."

"We've got strict gun laws here," Bernard added "any firearm is going to stand out like bird shit on a black car."

**Split End Plaza, Softsill, Australia**

The three sat out the front of a café watching the world move around them. Bernard looked around the plaza over the rim of his coffee mug. Liev drew eyes as he had the day before, but this time there were a few chuckles of laughter as this mountain of a man handled a comparatively tiny knife and fork. Ohkran watched as groups of cyclists sped past in brightly coloured lycra. He tried to look imposing in his trench coat, holding his important-looking attaché and wearing his dark sunglasses, but his position next to Liev made his attempt almost comical. Suddenly, Liev placed down his cutlery. "I'm gonna do it." He muttered to the other two.

Bernard put down his mug. "The aura? Why?" He looked around the plaza.

"I can feel malicious intent directed at us." Liev explained, his eyes scanning every person he saw.

"Are they close?" Ohkran asked, beginning to rise from his seat, but Bernard motioned for him to wait. "They're approaching us." Liev confirmed.

"How many?"

"Can't tell. I only know that they're coming."

"Your Stand's pretty lacking." Ohkran pouted.

"This isn't my Stand." Liev retorted.

"Don't do the aura." Bernard said quickly. "We should be able to see them soon, right?"

"They're fifty metres away, I think." Bernard motioned to Ohkran again.

"Now we stand."

The three stood. "No-one make any obvious moves." Bernard warned. "Liev, where are they coming from?"

"Behind Ohkran."

"Can you see them?"

"I think that's him, in the grey jacket." Ohkran stretched his arms up above his head, then out to the side, turning his torso as he did so. Bernard looked around Ohkran. "I see him."

"Twenty metres." Liev warned, Ohkran turned around properly and Bernard stepped clear of the table. The man approaching them stopped fifteen metres away, Liev noticed that one of the man's hands were not visible beyond the sleeve of his jacket. "Are you with The Badloves?" Bernard asked flatly. "I don't know you." The man responded. "Just let me go about my day." The man continued walking, no longer directly at the three, now going off to Bernard's left.

The man begun to walk past, his shoes making no sound on the plaza's tiled floor. Ohkran followed the man with his eyes. Liev saw a metallic glint from the opening of the man's left sleeve and muttered: "Knife." Ohkran judged the distance – about four metres – and turned slightly in the man's direction. _He can't stab me without getting closer_. The man passed Ohkran, not even sparing the three another glance. Ohkran watched the man's legs, his gait, he observed the distance between steps. If the man was going to attack with a knife, he would have to move his legs differently first. Step. Step. Maintaining a consistent interval. Step. Step. A step to the side. Ohkran summoned his Stand – a hulking, humanoid mass of armoured silver, large limbs and a domed helmet – and sent it towards the man. The man spun in the same instant and leaped at Ohkran, one arm held high above his head with a thin, gleaming blade protruding from the sleeve.

The blade came down and met the Stand's arms crossed into an 'X.' Bernard gasped as he saw both the domineering figure of Ohkran's Stand and that the man's blade seemingly emerged from the wrist with a flawless transition from flesh to metal. "It's going to take more than a sliver of metal to penetrate my Silverchair." Ohkran mocked as the man recoiled from the impact. "Although, that blade is a Stand too, isn't it?" The man grunted irritably and threw off his jacket. The trio saw that the blade seemed to be a part of the man with the purplish haze of Stand energy hovering around it.

"I wouldn't dismiss Crawl so flippantly. Your Stand stopped my slashing attack, but my next is sure to leave you indisposed!"

"Is that so?" Ohkran taunted. "Well go on then, have a free hit on me, I won't try to stop you." The man walked to the side and Silverchair followed him, staying between the man and Ohkran. "What are you playing at?" Bernard hissed to him, Ohkran responded cockily and loudly.

"My Stand's 'Freak' ability means it always faces an enemy, acting as a moving shield."

"That right? Well, let's see if I can't make you a pincushion before the minute's over." The man replied. The entirety of the man's arm moulded from and arm to a long metal blade, longer than his arm had been to begin with. He jabbed at Ohkran, but Silverchair easily blocked the attack, then deflected the multitude of follow up stabs. A frenzied clanging ensued, completely unknown to the civilians walking by.

"You might as well surrender now," Ohkran teased "you're not getting through my defences." The man kept attacking and Ohkran frowned. "Are you sure you're a gangster? This is becoming pathetic." The man drew his arm back again and Liev saw the man's still-flesh hand melt into the wrist, and the wrist fold into the forearm. "Hey-" He started to interrupt as the man lunged forward again. The blade sliced towards Silverchair, then, centimetres from the Stand's crossed arms, curved outwards and around Silverchair before reassuming its course, extending its length and aiming straight at Ohkran's exposed neck. Ohkran's eyes widened as he realised that he could soon be dead before he could shout about it. Bernard, taking heed from Liev, leapt past Ohkran with a hand extended. Yelling "Powderfinger!" a burst of gold erupted from his hand and a golden gauntlet appeared, encasing his hand and holding the index finger extended. Bernard touched his armoured finger to the advancing blade and the whole weapon stopped. The blade, now extended to its full length, was unable to move. The man on the other side was leaning heavily into the blade, but the blade did not even so much as wobble while Bernard held his finger where it was.

"Get him, now!" Bernard thundered, jolting Ohkran out of his fixation on the now-still blade point. He stepped to the side of the blade and approached the man. Alarmed, the man begun to retract Crawl, his other hand starting to reform as the blade's length shortened rapidly. The blade shortened enough to escape Bernard's contact and the man started to stagger away, but Ohkran was already right next to him. "Shit." He muttered as Silverchair appeared, towered over him and unloaded two punches into him. The man fell to the ground and scrambled away in a flurry of limbs before standing and realising something. "Those punches really didn't hurt." He admitted, seeming more confused than mocking. "Try this, then." A deep voice rumbled. The man looked up as Liev's figure blotted out the sun and a large fist rocketed into his ribs.

The trio's assailant was thrown airborne, flying two metres backwards and landing hard on the plaza's tiles. Gasps came from many of the plaza's occupants. The man coughed up a glob of saliva before rolling onto his stomach and vomiting onto the floor. "Hey, he's gonna run." Bernard noticed as the man pulled himself up again, rising into an athlete's pose for sprinting this time. "I've already won!" The man called out. "You're already marked! This only confirms things!" He took off. Ohkran and Liev started to follow. Bernard looked ahead of the man, saw where he was headed and cried out a wordless alarm.

The man ran with big steps, after three of them, he reached his destination: a girl standing alone with headphones wrapped around her head and looking out to the entrance of the plaza. With one hand he pushed her off balance and while her face contorted to an expression primarily of confusion, his other hand transformed into a blade. The previous fighting, yelling and Bernard's cry had gone unheard to the girl, whose eyes widened as she suddenly felt a piercing pain drive into her side. A terrible scream echoed out across the plaza. But that scream did not come from the girl. The man recoiled from her, rolling on the ground in pure agony, clutching at his wrist which was now a bubbling and steaming mess of flesh cascading down his forearm. Lying on the ground, the girl only let out strained and low 'aah's of pain as she held her hand tensed above her waist where a mixture of molten metal streaked with blood burnt through her shirt. She rolled over to stand up, but the hot liquid rolled down onto her stomach. Searing agony ran across her body, accentuated by an awful sizzling noise. Her body lost all tension as she passed out, falling face-first onto the ground, limp and unconscious.

The man fared better. He tried to scoot away as Ohkran walked over to him, his face streaked with tears of anguish. He held his bubbling and bleeding hand in front of his face, trying to understand what had happened. "We should capture him." Bernard said. "We'll try and get information out of him." Ohkran waved acknowledgement and lifted the amputated man up by the hair.

"I don't need my Stand for this." He muttered as he punched the man between the eyes, knocking him out.

The police were called, but Bernard flashed his Speedwagon Foundation badge and they let them be. "I thought they would have tried harder than that." Liev commented, watching as the officers walked away. "The Foundation's contacted the head of police, got them to keep out of our investigation." Bernard responded.

"So, what do we do about her?" Ohkran asked, nodding to the unconscious girl.

"I suppose we take care of her. It's odd that the gangster's hand melted, maybe she has a Stand." Liev replied. "And we should really get some ice on her wounds." Liev picked up the man, Bernard the girl, Ohkran retrieved his briefcase and the three men left Split End Plaza.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi everyone, SemiInsaneCentipede here with the third chapter of The Stolen Mask! It took a while for me to finish this chapter, so I apologise for the wait, however, now that uni has started back up againg for me, I should (ironically) be able to post more often. I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or any of the bands, musicians or songs referenced. Please enjoy!**

**The Stolen Mask**

**Chapter 3**

**Softsill, Australia**

Ohkran and Bernard looked down at their former assailant, who lay sideways on the floor in the safe house's small shed in the backyard. So far, they'd gleaned that this man was called Osmund, Ozzy to his friends, and had the Stand 'Crawl,' which allowed him to morph parts of his body into metal of any shape. The size of his creations, however, were limited by his own mass. "Doing good so far, Ozzy," Ohkran said, dropping to a crouch in front of their captive "at this rate, we might even let you go."

"Don't inspire him too much." Bernard cautioned. "Tell us where the rest of The Badloves are." He directed the second half at Osmund. "Like I'd tell you that. Let me go, damnit!"

"Compelling argument, but I'll have to decline." Bernard dismissed as Osmund continued to writhe ineffectively on the ground. Glowing, transparent, red spikes stuck to Osmund's body, holding him still. The spikes were not going through him, more accurately they were _on_ him, like immovable shackles rendering him immobile. The spikes were the product of Bernard's Sub-Stand: Jewel.

Back in the house, Liev attended to the wounded girl. They had debated taking her to a hospital, but they didn't know whether the medical professionals there would be able to see the wounds inflicted by a Stand, as well as the possibility that she might be marked by The Badloves as a target for incapacitating one of their members, intentionally or not. Liev found a student ID in her wallet, but was quickly reminded that he couldn't read English. In between holding new blocks of ice to the burnt skin, Liev had gotten glimpses between the flesh that Osmund had broken. Where Liev had expected to see more burns and blood he found a moving red-and-yellow pattern. It looked like it should be emanating immense heat but wasn't. He'd poked at the pattern with a needle from a first-aid kit, and after a small trail of steam rose, Liev realised that the point of the needle was gone. "A Stand?" He muttered to himself. "Why can't I feel its power?"

Bernard stuck his head in to check on the girl and Liev. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah." Liev responded. "Did you get much out of our attacker?"

"Osmund? No, not really, just his name." Bernard sighed. "Nothing terribly useful, 'you'll regret this' and all that crap. Ohkran wanted to break one of his fingers to make him talk, but for the moment we're just gonna let him stew in the shed for a bit. I've got my Stand on him so he can't move." Liev nodded. "It's something, I suppose. Can you read this?" He held out the ID card and Bernard plucked it from his fingers, interested. "She's Bangell Crow. Eighteen years old, goes to the local high school and is a local of Softsill herself." He handed the card back. "We should see about getting her back home before the end of the day." The pair looked out the window as the sun rose to its peak.

An hour had passed and Ohkran was thoroughly bored sitting out in the backyard rifling through his 'literature.' Osmund hadn't done anything yet, or even made a meaningful noise the whole time. He could hear his breathing though; the tin shed made the small noise echo out to where Ohkran sat with his back to the house. _I could just break him a little_, Ohkran thought. He flipped a page and sighed quietly. He stood and creeped inside, so as not to alert Osmund to his absence. He poked his head into a room to find Liev still tending to Bangell. "How's she going?" He asked.

"Pretty good. The heat's gone from the wound, she'll just be in pain for a few weeks while the skin heals over." Liev responded.

"So, she's stable?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to take a break? I can look over her until she wakes up." Ohkran offered and Liev stood. "Alright. I thought you were watching our captive?"

"I got bored. Could we swap?" Liev rolled his eyes a little.

"Sure-" he stopped himself as he saw what was in Ohkran's hand. "What is that." He posed it more as a statement than as a question as he pointed to the magazine.

"Oh, this?" Ohkran held up the magazine briefly.

"I've changed my mind, I'm staying here." Liev concluded.

"Oh come on, just because I read this doesn't mean I'll…" He trailed off with a gesture to Bangell. "I'll have you know I'm not a filthy pervert!" The gesture turned to a finger jabbed into Liev's broad chest. The pair bickered for a minute before a long groan interrupted them and drew both men to the bed. "She's awake!" Liev exclaimed. Ohkran held a hand out to stop him getting too close to Bangell. "Wait up, she doesn't know us, she might freak out if we swarm her." Saying this, he stepped back to the door and called out "Bernard!" By the time the third man entered the room, Bangell had propped herself up onto her elbows and was drearily opening her eyes. As an afterthought, Ohkran threw his magazine under the bed.

Bangell stared at the three men, who in turn stared back, each party waiting for the other to speak first. A spark of alarm jumped into her eyes, but she looked to the cold at her hip and saw the ice wrapped in a cloth resting there and the alarm died. She wet her lips. "What happened?" There was silence as Bernard and Ohkran tried to piece together a story that explained Stands and what had transpired. "You were stabbed." Liev told her bluntly. Bangel looked around the room, then out the window, where an aged wooden fence could be seen, coloured by years of rain. "This is not a hospital." She decided. "And you three…" she took in Liev's immense figure properly for the first time "are not doctors."

"No." Bernard confirmed. More silence.

"Then what the hell is going on?" Her voice was strained with forced calm.

"One moment." Bernard said, pulling his partners out of the room. "We're pretty sure she's a Stand user, right? Possibly she doesn't know she is one." Ohkran nodded.

"One way to find out." The Russian leaned back into the room and summoned Silverchair. Bangell's eyes widened, and just as she was about to say something, Ohkran dismissed it. Bangell blinked in confusion. "Yep, Stand user." Ohkran concluded.

"Then she's already involved, isn't she?" Liev asked. "Stand users attract Stand users, after all."

"Yes." Bernard agreed, troubled. "I'm reluctant to involve a student, but possession of a Stand means the user is worthy in some way."

"It's odd though," Liev added "her Stand was active even while she was knocked out."

"What kind of Stand?" Ohkran asked "What abilities did it look like it had?" Liev shook his head.

"I didn't really see her Stand, it was like it was resting beneath her skin. As for abilities, fire or heat, maybe." There was silence between the three for a moment.

"Regardless of whether we involve her or not, we should tell her about Stands." Ohkran decided. "Us running around and making trouble for The Badloves is no doubt going to affect others in the suburb."

The three re-entered the room to find Bangell poking around her wound. "You said I was stabbed… the blade didn't go deep at all." She said. "Also, what was that… armoured ghost?" She directed the last part to Ohkran. "That was my Stand, which is what we're going to tell you about now."

"Stands are the manifestations of one's fighting spirit, and that you could see mine is proof that you have one yourself. They come in many forms and have unique abilities. There's a general set of rules that apply to most Stands, but every so often there are ones that defy the norms." Bernard explained. "One thing I can say for certain: your life will likely become a lot more violent after today. We're employed by the Speedwagon Foundation for a mission that has had us cross paths with The Badloves gang, and, whether intentionally or not, you incapacitated one of their members." Bangell did not react. "I must say, you're taking this very calmly."

"Well, I must confess that, growing up, I thought that there was something special and unique about me, as all children do. But to find out that it would be to be targeted by a gang and to have a … Stand-thing…" She trailed off. Bernard was about say something, possibly consolation, but there was a loud _bang! _at the front door.

Liev was the first to get to the main hallway, followed by Ohkran. They found that the door was not only open but busted off its hinges and lying in the middle of the hall in a cloud of sawdust. In the doorway stood a tall, thin man dressed in dark clothes covered in large stars of all colours and patterns. "I suppose you're here for Osmund." Ohkran said, lazily raising his hands to hold his head from behind as Silverchair stepped up and out from his body. "Why didn't you detect him?" Ohkran hissed at Liev. "I wasn't looking for him." The larger man retorted in a similar fashion. The man stepped over the threshold, as he did, his Stand towered over him. It was humanoid and nearly three metres tall, had a thin, yellowish body, a head like some monster with a perpetual toothy grin and eyes on the side of its head. It looked to be covered in scales and had two long arms that almost came to its ankles, the upper arms were thin, but the forearms were massive with short reddish fingers capped with black talons. The eyes were unsettling and seemed to be looking everywhere except straight ahead.

"That's a pretty scary Stand," Ohkran admitted "that's your spirit, huh?" Beside him, Liev did not waste any time. "Secret Samadhi." He whispered, then disappeared. Both Ohkran and the attacker were alarmed at this. "Smashmouth!" The man yelled and his Stand begun rapidly slashing at the space in front of him. Ohkran stepped forward. "You don't know where he is, so you're panicking, but I wouldn't forget all the threats." He stopped two metres in front the man, placing Silverchair directly in front of Smashmouth, blocking all of Smashmouth's attacks whether they were directed at him or not. "What's wrong? You were so confident just a minute ago!" The man grit his teeth. Suddenly, Smashmouth stopped punching and kicked out with a scaly, taloned foot. "Who was that aimed at?" Ohkran teased as the kick came nowhere near his Stand. The fallen door that Ohkran had not realised he had been standing on was pushed out from underneath him and he fell forward and landed face-first on the ground. Silverchair flickered a little but remained present. "That shut you up. No-one takes Allestar Gamon for a fool!" Ohkran rose onto all fours with a bloodied nose.

"He may not be a fool, but he _is _forgetful." A deep voice rumbled as Liev returned to visibility directly behind Allestar with a raised fist. The fist thundered towards Allestar cackling with golden lightning. It approached… it got closer… and closer… Allestar easily stepped aside. "What!?" Liev exclaimed as his fist struck fresh air. Not to be discouraged, Ohkran drew himself back up to his feet. "Silverchair's punch is now ready!" Silverchair raised its right hand into a fist glowing with power and sent it rocketing at Allestar. "Ooh, a fast one this time." Allestar mocked as he ducked away from the punch. Smashmouth lashed out at Ohkran, but Silverchair intervened and the talons glanced away ineffectually. Liev went for another punch, but Allestar danced to one side. "How can you move like that?" Liev grunted as he skipped backwards for fear of retaliation. Allestar laughed.

Bernard stepped into the hallway. "Be aware guys, Osmund just freed himself." Powderfinger manifested around his wrists as he talked and a bird that looked to be made of different gemstones – Jewel – flew from the backyard and dissipated into his chest. "Awesome." Ohkran said dryly. "Now I have to watch my back as well." Bernard looked over at Allestar as he dodged Liev's second punch.

"Let's see if we can't take down one of them." He muttered. "Go! Jewel!" The shining bird shot out of Bernard's chest and flew at Allestar. Smashmouth sent a large arm to intercept and Jewel shattered. "Ha! Is that it?" Allestar laughed. "You're all hopeless before Smashmouth!" Bernard smirked. "Not quite. You've played right into my hands." The shards of Jewel's broken form darted around and pinned themselves onto Smashmouth. "You cannot move your Stand." Bernard informed Allestar. The attacker's face went pale as he found Bernard's words to be true.

Power grew in Silverchair's fist as it stood opposite Smashmouth. "Perfect, Bernard! Simply perfect!" Ohkran cried out with glee. After a few seconds, Silverchair punched, the blow connected with Smashmouth's large mouth, shattering many of the Stand's long, hooked fangs. Allestar flew backwards, past Liev, and Smashmouth's visage begun to shimmer out of existence as the user was forced out of its range. Allestar probably swore, but his words were indistinguishable as they came out with a torrent of blood and broken teeth. "So, the thing _can_ punch." Ohkran and Bernard whipped around to find Osmund nursing his melted wrist. "You should've stayed back there." Ohkran told him. "We will not be merciful a second time." Bernard agreed as Jewel reshaped itself and flew to his shoulder. Osmund smiled humourlessly. "You only caught me because I let you. I can even save myself." Saying this, the man melted into a puddle of metal on the floor.

"I don't suppose he just killed himself." Ohkran mused. As Bernard was about to reply, the puddle shot past the pair's feet and slid towards the front of the house. Bernard and Ohkran could only watch as the puddle arced up the side of the wall, solidified partially, and a blade sliced through the air towards Liev's head. The large man slapped a hand either side of the cutting edge and held it still, halting its deadly advance. Liev threw the blade aside and the rest of the puddle went with it. "So that's how you escaped." Bernard muses quietly. A garbled voice said something from the floor and Liev looked down in time to see Smashmouth manifest and drag its talons across his calf. Liev hissed in pain as hot blood cascaded onto his ankle and he raised a foot to stomp on Allestar, but as the foot came down, Allestar twisted just enough to avoid. "You're really getting on my nerves." Liev told him as he reached down to grab him. Allestar coughed, although it may have been an attempt at laughing, as he dodged Liev again and used his Stand to pull himself away.

Back in his human form, Osmund spoke up. "Allestar can't speak, so I'll do it for him. He often likes to brag about his Stand." Braced against the wall, Allestar begun to pull himself up to his feet, his face covered in a bloody syrup. "You're probably wondering why you can't hit me." Osmund announced in an imitation of Allestar's voice. "Not really, I did hit him." Ohkran called back.

"You hit my Stand, not me." Osmund continued in falsetto. "My Stand, Smashmouth, has the ability to slow time when I'm in danger!" He pointed at Liev. "Whenever you attack me, time slows to a tenth of its true speed and I am able to move normally and avoid your attacks." A fresh waterfall of red and teeth fell from Allestar's mouth. In his normal voice, Osmund said: "I think he laughed, he probably said that that one hit was a lucky one."

"Plenty more where that came from, I assure you." Ohkran told them, his voice now carrying a violent and eager note. Silverchair seemed to swell in size with anticipation.

"I think I have the longest range Stand here." Bernard mused to himself as he sent Jewel to attack Osmund. Osmund sliced up at the bird, deflecting its charge, but the sub-Stand arced back around to strike again. Osmund knocked it away again, but now realised that this crystalline bird was going to be a bigger part of this battle than he'd first realised. Liev stepped towards Osmund and Allestar, seemingly untroubled by his bleeding calf. "I think we were just leaving." Osmund said, hooking a arm through one of Allestar's and pulling him towards the outside. Osmund batted Jewel away again as they neared the doorway. As he was about to step over the threshold, Allestar had Smashmouth lift up the two of them and start running. "Shit." Ohkran muttered, dispelling Silverchair.

"That was close." Osmund sighed as Smashmouth reached the road. Suddenly, the Stand and two users were pulled backwards with irresistible force. Grass was torn from the ground, chunks of dirt flew with them, even a parked car was forced onto its side with a crunch and the broken glass tinkled as it was also summoned to the seeming epicentre of this force. Osmund and Allestar hit the ground on their backs as the force stopped as suddenly as it had been introduced. "You're not going anywhere." Liev rumbled, standing over them. "What was that?" Bernard coughed, picking himself up from the ground in the hallway; he and Ohkran had not been exempt from the force. Liev punched down, again at Allestar, and now that he knew how his Stand worked, he could see the other man manoeuvring as high speeds to avoid his fists. "I see." He murmured. Osmund tried to crawl away, but Liev snapped his fingers, and for the briefest second the force was back, a black sphere appeared between him and Osmund and disappeared. Osmund was jerked back towards Liev, landing at his feet, looking up at him like a puppy who knew it was in trouble.

Bernard and Ohkran ran towards the excitement as Liev dodged a wild sweep from a debilitated Smashmouth. Allestar scampered up to a four-legged crawl and tried to get away, but Liev pointed a finger at the retreating man. There was a disturbing _c-c-crack_ as Allestar's skull seemed to shrink and his eyeballs were suck to the back of their sockets. It only lasted for half a second, but the man collapsed bleeding from eyes, ears, nose and with the back of his head looking like it had been scrunched up. Bernard gripped Osmund's neck with Powderfinger and clamped down with a vice's grip. "Are you going to talk this time?" He asked the struggling man. In response, Osmund's good hand transformed into a blade and stabbed at Bernard's head, but was intercepted by Bernard's other hand, stopping the blade entirely. "I… hate…" Osmund strained with wild eyes.

Police sirens interrupted the chaos as Bernard began to tighten his grip on Osmund's neck. On hearing them, Bernard released him. "Maybe we can just put you out of commission, eh?" Osmund fell onto his back to find Silverchair towering over him.

After a quick yell, Osmund passed out from pain. Bernard looked down at the ruined gangster. "Did you kill him?" Ohkran massaged his knuckles delicately.

"No. I've had my Stand since I was a teenager, I've developed good control over the years." Ohkran assured him. "That said, I wouldn't want to be the doctor who has to fix his ribcage." The pair looked over to Liev, who stood still and stony-faced. "What about him?" Bernard called over. "He still alive?"

"I created a black hole inside his skull." Liev replied grimly. "His brain is likely in trillions of pieces."

"I… see."

Tyres screeched and the police cars came to abrupt halts. Police officers burst out of the vehicles with tasers held at arm's length. Several calls of "Freeze!" later and the trio found themselves face to face with the police commissioner for the area. "You boys work fast." The moustachioed man grumbled to them after seeing the Speedwagon vest around Bernard's shoulders. "When I heard we'd been called to your 'safe' house, I needed to make sure I came along."

"Oh, so are we good to go?" Ohkran asked. The Commissioner looked down at Allestar's disfigured head. "Murder is murder and is never a good thing. I'm not happy about it. Last thing we need is a war with a gang." He looked back to them. "We just need to make it look like we're going through the proper processes, then, yes, you can get back to your work." Bernard bowed his head.

"I appreciate your understanding." The Commissioner sighed.

"I've been told that there's… something beyond humanity at play here. No matter how much I think I understand this world, it always throws me a curveball at my most complacent."

"We'll try to keep it clean in future." Ohkran told him and the Commissioner fixed with a doubtful gaze. "I suspect there will be more of your messes to clean up in the future. As long as this serves the safety of the people, I can live with it."

Bangell poked her head out the front of the house, then, seeing that the fighting was over, walked out. "Oh, right." Bernard remembered on seeing her. "Would you be able to drive her home?" The Commissioner nodded and went to talk to Bangell. After a minute or so, the pair walked over to a police car and got in. Awkwardly, as she was still unsure of her familiarity with the three men, Bangell gave a small wave as she got in the car. "Hopefully that's the last she sees of us." Bernard commented. "It's not." Ohkran told him shortly. The Commissioner drove off and Bernard, Ohkran and Liev submitted themselves to the police as the day's light began to fade.

**It feels good to have finally finished this chapter as it has been on my mind for a while. Internal debates over the phrasing of certain sentences and whatnot. Anyway, I hope that you got as much enjoyment - or at least entertainment - out of this as I do when I plan these things excitedly and then proceed to take forever to type a sentence. I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi everyone, SemiInsaneCentipede here with the fourth chapter of The Stolen Mask. I'm quite happy with myself for how quickly I produced this chapter, hopefully no quality was sacrificed as a result. I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or any of the bands, artists or songs referenced. Please enjoy!**

**The Stolen Mask**

**Chapter 4**

**Softsill, Australia**

Bangell awoke with a sigh and opened her eyes halfway. Sunlight poked through a gap in the curtains and onto her face, eliciting an irritated groan from the student. Another moan laced with pain ground its way out her mouth as she sat up, reminded for the umpteenth time of her wound. After getting dressed, she lifted her shirt in the bathroom, using the mirror to look again at the hardened scab that occupied a rather annoying part of her stomach; a part that was frequently subjected to movement and bending. It was odd, to her, how quickly her life had returned to normal in the days since her being attacked. Rather, she was angered by how seamless the transition back had been. She _wanted _the excitement. Anything to sidestep her Year 12 classes.

Bangell had taken efforts over the weekend to hide her pain from her mother, concealing her grimaces with a hand over the mouth. She knew _exactly_ what her mother would think if she told her about a pain in her stomach. Additionally, Bangell did not want to be tasked with explaining what Stands were to someone when she didn't fully understand what they were in the first place. On the walk to school she thought on Bernard's – _Was that his name? – _warning that she might become targeted by The Badloves. Nothing had happened so far… The cars moved down the street too slowly for her liking, she realised. Her eyes darted around a bit. There were too many people standing at the corners of intersections and reading newspapers. Watching. _Or it might be normal and I'm just paranoid_, she dismissed. She knocked on her head with her palm several times, scrunched up her eyes, then opened them again. "No time for that." She muttered.

"Bangell!"

"Oh, hi Michelle." Bangell responded as her friend ran at her.

"You're just gonna act like you didn't hang me dry at Split End?" Michelle huffed at her. Bangell blinked twice. "Oh, right." She remembered why she'd been at the Plaza in the first place. "Sorry."

"You could have called. Saved me searching and panicking and thinking you'd been killed!"

"Well, I _was_ stabbed." Despite herself, Bangell smirked.

"Yeah well-" Michelle stopped herself, her expression froze mid-rant and her mouth remained open as a finger raised to emphasise a point hesitated in the air between them. "You were…"

"Yeah. Wanna see the scar?"

**Softsill Highschool, Softsill**

Students poured in through the front gates and buses unloaded even more into the fray. The traffic moved slowly as cars were parked and then pulled back out again. Behind the tinted windows of a parked car, a man in a white trench coat observed the flocking of people with a lack of enthusiasm. "She's probably not even an adult. Is this really necessary?" He asked the window and the figure in its reflection behind him answered. "This isn't about the technicalities, it's about the message." The man looked at the car's other occupant directly now. "Sure thing." He sighed and opened the car door. "Remember, strike only when you are certain it's her, there may be Stand users among the students."

"Yeah." The white-clad man pulled a pair of dark aviators over his eyes and stepped out into the sunlight.

**A classroom, Softsill Highschool**

A quick trip to the bathroom had Michelle convinced of Bangell's excuse. She hadn't told Michelle about Stands or explained why she'd been discharged from such a serious injury so quickly, but the other girl was too caught up in that Bangell had been telling the truth to query these holes in her story. In fact, the novelty of the incident had all but fallen into the mundanity of everyday life by fourth period biology. "We'll have to go out some other time." Michelle told her in hushed tones as she flipped through the textbook as the teacher roamed the classroom.

"Yeah. How are you for this Saturday?" Bangell whispered back.

"Nothing ever changes 'round here, why should my timetable?" Michelle replied. "Different time maybe? Your attacker might be a regular." Bangell smirked at this.

"Maybe. I wouldn't worry, he's in the hospital now."

"You didn't tell me that bit. Did you fight back?" Michelle asked the last part with glee.

"Well, something like that I suppose, but… ah, someone else beat him up, I just went unconscious." She recounted carefully. The pair fell silent as the teacher patrolled past them and Bangell quickly flipped to a random page and started reading to avoid suspicion. _Just keep walking around, sir, nothing but the study of – what am I reading here? – yes, blood cells, nothing but blood cells here sir._

Quiet resumed in the classroom, softly broken occasionally but small comments made between students and the teacher explaining concepts in low tones to individuals who asked. A short scream shattered the calm for a second, but it was so short that some didn't even register that it had happened. Some spared a cursory glance around, but ultimately had little interest. Michelle watched in horror as blood trickled down Bangell's face from a freshly opened gash in her forehead. Bangell's fingers were locked in a rigid vice on the textbook as she stared into it incomprehensively. The hot crimson fluid went to the left of her nose, around her mouth and down to her chin. As the first drop fell onto the blank page of her exercise book resting on the table for notes, she threw herself backwards out of her chair with erratic breath.

The scrape of chair legs on floorboards drew the attention of the whole room. "Bangell, what…?" The teacher managed in his surprise. Bangell tried to talk, but her mouth had gone completely dry and she had to swallow before she could attempt to speak again. When she did, her voice was strained. "P-permission to go to the sick bay sir?" The teacher nodded a bit absently, still in shock. Bangell started to move and Michelle half-stood. "I'll just…" She trailed off, motioning to Bangell and dismissing herself from the classroom with her friend.

"What's going on?" Michelle asked with both alarm and an attempt to not yell.

"I don't-" Bangell began, but she stopped and threw both arms up to her head as they walked past some posters. "Bangell!" Michelle cried out now as the other girl knelt down now. "W-what happened?" She asked and slowly peeled away one of Bangell's arms to reveal a second bleeding cut, this one across her throat. A scream was held in Michelle's throat but was never committed to sound as Bangell grit her teeth and went to stand again. Her shirt stained red, the white cotton giving her suffering a gruesome canvas to colour. "Bangell! What's-"

"I don't know!" Bangell yelled at her friend with rage born of confusion. Michelle gripped her shoulders. "Just! Wait!" She managed to enunciate blockily. Bangell paused and, after a moment of thought, lowered herself back down. A shuddering breath was forced through her clenched teeth.

"Th-think!" Michelle encouraged, restricted to singular syllables in her anxiety. Bangell's breath was heavy and loud for a few moments, but once she regained control, she was able to unscramble her mind. "Is this… a Stand?" She spluttered to Michelle, who looked back at her hopelessly.

"I don't- I don't-" Michelle's voice spiked in pitch and Bangell quickly pulled her head over to rest on her shoulder, whispering _shhhhh _into the brown hair that covered her ear. "Calm, calm, calm." She repeated the mantra until it became true. A long exhale signalled Michelle's recovery. "I just want to know… what's going on?"

"I don't-" Bangel stopped herself. "I think I might know." Slowly, the pair stood on shaking legs.

They were close to the nurse's office, Bangell realised as they began to take tentative steps forward. Bangell placed her feet down carefully while Michelle clung to her arm fearfully. The school office was just ahead now, and the sick bay was a smaller section of it. They walked slowly over. Bangell reached out hesitantly for the door and paused. She waited. Nothing happened. She swallowed her fear and pushed the door open, pulling Michelle over the threshold with her. None of the receptionists were at their seats, the pair noticed. There was a bell to summon them, but they didn't ring it. A small sign directed them down a short hallway to the sick bay. Close to their objective, they sped up and burst through the door. The nurse wasn't in either, it seemed.

"Never there when you need them." Bangell muttered with a mix of anger and pain. Her wounds stung irritably. "Sit on the bed," Michelle instructed "I'll find the bandages." Bangell staggered in her step as another laceration formed on her shin. She pursed her lips shut until they turned white and struggled to remain quiet so as to not alarm Michelle further. Bangell sat and shivered a little as the warm blood on her shin sent a jittering sensation through her whole body. Michelle found the bandages and began wrapping Bangell up. The white cloth quickly turned red as it absorbed the blood. "Thanks." Bangell managed, standing up shakily.

"I still don't know what's going on." Michelle told her.

"Might want to hold onto that." Bangell advised as Michelle went to put the bandages away.

"I-it's not over!?"

"Maybe."

Bangell took a step towards the door, but lost her balance and had to put her hand on the wall to steady herself. "B-Bangell…" Michelle pointed a quivering finger at the wall, which was covered in diagrams of the human body. Bangell looked over to her hand and saw more of her blood leaking down the laminated poster. Pulling her hand back she saw that her palm was a red mess with countless miniature cuts criss-crossed all over it. Then the pain hit. She inhaled sharply through clenched teeth. "Bandage-" She managed, falling back onto the bed. Michelle struggled to bind Bangell's hand as her own were shaking with fear. "What's- what's-?" She repeated feverishly, never able to complete her question. While Michelle struggled to work, Bangell looked back up at the poster that was now marked with her blood. Her eyes widened when she saw that the thin plastic layer that covered the poster was broken, yet the picture behind was untouched. "I think…" She murmured.

There was a tinkling noise behind her and Bangell twisted to look. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary, just more posters. Then she heard the noise again and saw what had made it. A small golden disk had fallen and bounced off the bed's metal frame. She tilted her head back and saw a poster higher up on the wall beginning to fall over. "The pins." She realised. The poster had been secured by four, but now only the two in the bottom remained. The poster leaned over, looming over the pair. "Watch out!" Bangell cried, hunching herself over to guard Michelle. Bangell yelled as what felt like the lashes of a whip rained down on the back of her neck and along her spine. Her clothes tore and soon became soaked in red. Seeking respite, Bangell pushed herself off the bed and tackled Michelle to the floor.

The sound of more pins hitting the floor could be heard all around the room now and Bangell turned her head to see all the posters in the room beginning to peel away from the walls. Some floated down, but others remained in an arch, leering down from above. Michelle's whole body began to shake beneath Bangell as the other student bled onto her. She hugged Bangell tightly and squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm scared." She breathed.

"The printed image!" Bangell suddenly realised and as the posters fell to the ground, a red-orange figure clad entirely in wavering patterns rose out of Bangell's back, stood in a wide stance, and swiped its arms out wildly. The posters were singed and disintegrated where touched by the figure, which radiated waves of angry heat. Bangell looked up at the figure in wonder as it burnt the posters out of existence.

"Who are you?" Bangell whispered at the figure. It was vaguely feminine and stood at about Bangell's height, but it had no hair or discernible facial features. "Who are you talking to?" Michelle asked weakly, trying to look around Bangell. Bangell freed herself of her friend and stood, reaching out a hand towards to the fiery person. "Warm…" She muttered. Michelle began to pick herself up and looked around in confusion. "Bangell, there's no-one there!" She hissed, still worried that they still might be under attack. "Yes, there is." Bangell touched the person and her hand passed through them without resistance and she felt its heat fill her hand and run up her arm, it was a pleasant warmth. Michelle watched incomprehensively. "Did you lose too much blood?" She worried. "Come on, you need to lie down."

"I'm fine. I understand what's going on now." Bangell told her, wiping some of the blood away from her face. The orange figure moved closer to Bangell and faded into her skin and out of tangibility.

As Bangell turned to leave the nurse's office, Michelle cried out. "What?" Bangell asked, urgently turning around. "Your back!" Michelle exclaimed. "It's covered in blood! And your shirt's all torn up."

"Yeah, it stings a bit, but I'm alright." Bangell dismissed. Something gold flashed in Bangell's eye. "What was that?" She asked, her head whipping around to where she had seen the flash. She stared now at some of the shredded posters on the ground, a part that hadn't been singed. "That's it, you're hallucinating." Michelle decided, stepping in front of her friend. "You_ need _to lie down. Now."

Bangell let herself be pushed back a bit, but then saw what she had been watching for: a golden ball of light, no bigger than her thumb, emerged from the shreds of poster and jumped into another, one closer to the door. "There!" Bangell ran past Michelle as the ball jumped again, and then again, flying out of the open door.

Michelle ran after Bangell, yelling for her to come back. Fixated on the light, Bangell ran full pelt after it. She rounded a corner and… gone. Slowly, she put one foot forward and stopped. She balanced herself with a bloodied hand on the nearby wall. Ten centimetres from her hand was a noticeboard hung on the wall covered in sheets of paper, all printed on. Shakily, she exhaled and reached out for it, scanning over it for anything dangerous. She stretched out her fingers and held her palm over some of the writing. Nothing. She moved her hand, keeping it hovering a few centimetres from the papers. Something lashed across her finger and she pulled it back close her body as the golden orb emerged from the picture her hand had been covering. It floated away with urgency. "Gotcha." She hissed before running after it.

The ball flew out of the office, between some portable classrooms and out onto the school oval. Bangell panted heavily as she drew nearer, reaching out with one hand. Her body felt too light and her head was filled with fuzzy thoughts. Her skin stung, her back cut in a lattice pattern of impossibly thin red lines that had leaked down to her hips. "Gah…" She grunted, gripping the corner of a classroom and trying pull herself closer. She lunged forward, swinging her arm in a last-ditch effort to grab the ball. She missed; not even close. Suddenly the orange figure was back, it floated out of her and imitated Bangell's motions. The figure missed as well, but only just. Bangell stopped moving; it was all she could do to not fall over. Now that all her pain had set in, she realised just how weak and physically drained she felt.

"Well, who'd have thought?" A voice spoke, it sounded mildly surprised. Bangell looked up with one eye, as the other was now covered in blood. A tall man in a white trench coat stood some thirty metres away. With hands in pockets and a slouched posture, he looked bored behind his aviators. The golden ball floated over to him and faded into his body. Bangell grit her teeth in a mix of anger and need to stay standing. Michelle ran up behind her and, upon seeing the man, chose to stay silent. The orange figure seemed to hover above the grass of the oval between them. "I think I understand." The man said, whipping around and starting to walk away.

"Hey!" Bangell managed, beginning to walk towards the retreating trench coat. He turned back around and sniffed indignantly. "I suppose your effort warrant something of an explanation." He held out his palm and the golden ball reappeared. "Angel here takes shelter in printed pictures big enough to hold it and attacks with highly pressurised whips of air." Angel disappeared and he pointed at Bangell. "If your Stand was not what it is, you would have died many times over. You should be in pieces; Angel is strong enough to sever limbs and torsos."

"Get back over here, you bastard." Bangell growled at him, stumbling forward.

"No, I don't think I will." With that, he turned around again and walked away. "I wouldn't follow if I were you." He called back over his shoulder. "You're in that state after only my sub-Stand, you would surely perish from my Stand."

When the man was far away, Bangell fell and Michelle caught her with a cry. Carefully lowering Bangell into a sitting position, Michelle began to fuss over her with bandages and questions. Bangell ignored her and looked up at the orange figure that now hovered up behind Michelle. "Angel, huh?" She whispered. "I suppose you need a name, too." After a few seconds, she allowed herself a slight smile. "You saved me from cutting air… You must be made of fire; you consumed the attacks. I'll call you… Eternal Flame."

**What did you guy think? I was a bit concerned that it might come across as rushed, but that might just be because of my perspective as the one who knows everything that's going to happen. **

**Until next time, I'll see you all later!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi everyone, SemiInsaneCentipede here (finally) with the fifth chapter of The Stolen Mask. I thought a lot and for a long time about this chapter, so I hope you guys get a somewhat proportionate amount of enjoyment from it. As always, I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, or any of the bands, artists or songs referenced. Please enjoy!**

**The Stolen Mask**

**Chapter 5**

**Split End Plaza, Softsill**

As the gangster levelled the tommy gun at Ohkran's chest, the Russian let out a low whistle. "Now _there's _a veritable relic." The gangster squeezed and held the trigger. The room flashed and echoed with noise as the gun's drum magazine unloaded into Ohkran. Each bullet deflected off Silverchair and scattered – still red hot – onto the ground at their feet. As the gangster begun to turn and run, Ohkran stepped forward and Silverchair smashed its fist into the back of his head. The empty weapon clattered harmlessly to the ground and the gangster slumped down next to it lifelessly.

"That should be the last of them." Ohkran muttered, casting a cursory glance around the room. Four gangsters now knocked out cold. It wasn't consistent with his initial count on bursting into the room, but some had run around him and to other parts of the compound. He heard an electric _zzt zzt zzt _and paused. A computer with an old-style box monitor buzzed away on a desk against a wall. Satisfied, Ohkran turned and left the room. Black eyes watched from the ceiling as he left, the cackle of static keeping their owner hidden.

"All clear down there." Ohkran told some passing police officers in riot armour with a wave. He flattened himself against the corridor wall to let them all pass. He found a door close by and walked through it, coming from the claustrophobic hallway into the comparatively spacious kitchen of a bakery. Ohkran nodded at the bewildered bakers and walked out of the kitchen, jumped the counter and left the building, waving to some confused customers. This side of Split End Plaza was now filled with police vehicles and being cordoned off with tape. Red and blue lights flashed everywhere. The initial rush of excitement had died down as the police started to usher handcuffed gangsters out of the buildings and into the backs of cars. All of the shops in this area had had their back walls partially knocked down for a door to be put there and a thin maze of corridors joining them all together. Hidden rooms on second stories and dug into the ground housed beds and accommodations for the members of The Badloves gang.

Bernard waved to Ohkran and walked over to him. "How'd your end go?" Ohkran asked.

"Alright. They burnt all their documents before we could get them though." Bernard replied with a sigh. "But, no casualties on our end, so it's not all bad." Ohkran nodded and looked around. "Where's Liev?"

"Round the back; he's too big for the corridors. If anyone tries to get away, he's got them." Ohkran looked over towards a nearby café. "Scary." He mused. "To think we had breakfast casually over there just a few days ago. Less than fifty metres from the enemy." Bernard nodded. "Yeah. I don't think this is over, though. I don't think this is the centre of operations for The Badloves."

"An outpost, you think?"

"Yes. Think about it: we didn't encounter any Stand users in there. I find it hard to believe that the strongest members of The Badloves work at the grunt level." Ohkran rubbed his chin.

"That makes sense. Damn, I can't think of any way to trace a Stand… You?" Bernard shrugged. "Best I can think of is Liev's ability to sense them, but even that's pretty short range." Ohkran sneered at this.

"Shit. We can't fight them 'til they're right on top of us." He sighed. "Could be worse, though. We could be in a city, where they could be three floors down in an apartment building, or on the roof of the next skyscraper, watching us across the street from twenty floors up. I much prefer the space here."

Liev walked into view dragging two unconscious gangsters by their collars and a third limp over his shoulder. Police officers flanked his pulling along several more like luggage. After they were locked up, Liev joined Bernard and Ohkran.

"Eventful on your end?" Bernard asked.

"Yes, but not a lot of trouble." Liev replied, dusting off one of his scarves. Bernard was about to speak, but he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out, frowned at the unfamiliar number, then answered.

"Hello?"

"Bernard. This is the Police Commissioner."

"Right. What's wrong? Your officers are just finishing cleaning up here."

"You need to get to Bangell's house. Now."

"Why, what's wrong?"

"We think The Badloves are there… and not of the kind you just disposed of."

"Right, we're on our way."

"Good. I'll send you her address."

**Streets of Softsill, Earlier**

Wearing the school's spray jacket to cover her tattered uniform, Bangell leaned heavily on Michelle as the slowly walked back to Bangell's house. After a short rest, she had been able to stand by herself, but needed Michelle to help her move without falling over. Her bleeding had stopped now, leaving her feeling empty and fatigued. Michelle had suggested returning to the sick bay, but a short and strained "No" from Bangell had put a stopper on that plan. "You were so pretty, then he had to go covering you in cuts and blood." Michelle lamented, receiving a grunt in response. "You're so weak now, you can't even resist my advances!" Michelle gave a clean spot on Bangell's cheek a quick peck and giggled.

"Just… get me… home." Bangell groaned.

"I know, just tryna lighten the mood." Bangell rubbed her head.

"I'm… lightheaded… as is."

The shuffled further down the footpath until Bangell called for a stop outside a small park. "Someone's calling me." She croaked and had Michelle rest her on a nearby bench. She glanced at the screen and answered. "Hi mum."

"Bangell, sweetie, how are you?" Her mother's voice was tinny through the speaker and Bangell frowned. Her mother never called her 'sweetie.'

"I'm alright," She lied "what's going on, you don't normally call me while I'm at school."

"Are you coming home soon, darling?" 'Darling,' another unusual term to Bangell's ears. She called Bangell 'honey' occasionally. 'Darling' was rare and 'sweetie' never happened. Bangell's remaining blood ran cold. She quickly checked the time. 1300.

"Not until three." She lied again. Michelle, only able to hear one side of the conversation, tilted her head, interested. "Mum, is anyone else there with you?" Bangell waited as no reply came.

She strained her ears. Was that sobbing she could hear? Or had she imagined it? Finally, a response came.

"No, darling, just me."

"What took you so long?" Bangell pressed through grit teeth. More silence, then-

"Don't worry about that. Can you come home early, honey?"

"Sure thing. I'll sneak out. I should be there in about an hour." Bangell hung up and pocketed her phone. Michelle helped her stand.

"Sooooo?" She prompted.

"I need to get home now." Bangell told her, reinvigorated.

"Mum's in danger." Bangell told Michelle as she helped her hastily limp down the street. "Someone was telling her what to say." They came to Bangell's street and Michelle strained her eyes.

"Damn, I'm seeing a lot of green limousines around lately." She commented. "Did some new business open up? If so, that's an unfilled niche." Bangell looked up.

"Shit, it's parked right outside my house."

"It could mean nothing." Michelle suggested hopefully. "Maybe there's a party up the street."

"At this hour? No, they came here in that car."

"How do you know that?"

"I've developed paranoia over the last few days, I know that's their car." Michelle frowned.

"So, what're we gonna do?" Bangell thought for a moment, counted quickly, then replied.

"First, I need to make a call, then let's go a street over, jump the fence of the house behind mine, and go in from behind." Bangell called the police on their local number, mentioned Bernard and found herself talking to the Police Commissioner. "I'll have him at your residence shortly." Bangell thanked him and hung up.

"Let's go."

"Six… seven houses, alright, this one." Bangell concluded and Michelle helped her up the driveway. The front of the house and garage covered most of the side facing the street, but behind some waist-high plants was a wooden gate between the house and the fence of the next property. The gate was taller than both of them but had a triangular hole for a handle they could use as a foothold.

"I'll climb over and unlatch it for you." Bangell told Michelle, pulling away from her.

"Like hell you will." Michelle pushed Bangell over so she was forced to lean on the house and pulled up her skirt a bit so she could get her foot into the hand-hole. "No peeking." She teased and, after an initial struggle, pulled herself up and vaulted over the gate. There was a heavy and flat impact accompanied by a small _oof_, then the tinkling of a metal latch and the gate creaked open on old hinges. Bangell smiled wryly and stumbled through.

The concrete path behind the gate ran along the side of the house to the other side of the property, they could see a Hills Hoist at the other end. Bangell closed the gate behind her and as the pair begun to move again, an excited scampering ran towards them.

"Puppy!" Michelle exclaimed delightedly as a tiny dog sprinted at them, yapping loudly.

"It's gonna give us away!" Bangell hissed urgently as it braced itself five metres away and continued barking. _It's got less mass than a football and it's probably used to getting around in handbags, _Bangell thought, _I should just kick it away. Probably won't shut it up, though. I don't want to kill it._ As Michelle continued to gush, Bangell closed her eyes and focussed. Eternal Flame faded into being and floated over Michelle's shoulder with an out-stretched hand. It held its hand mere centimetres from the dog's nose and it cowered away from the intense heat. It whimpered and ran off.

"Aww." Michelle complained.

"Long-legged rat." Bangell said. "Get a real dog."

They hurried to the backyard fence and Bangell immediately began to climb. The cuts along her arms and legs began to bleed again as the muscles beneath them strained. Her face contorted into a mixture of pain and determination. She reached up to the top of the fence, braced her foot against a horizontal wooden beam and pulled her top half over the fence. The bandage on her hand quickly became soaked in dark red and she groaned with effort. Michelle pulled herself up to Bangell's level with considerably greater ease.

"Need help-" She began to ask as Bangell transitioned all her weight to her top half and tipped herself over the fence, headfirst, into her backyard. Michelle swung her legs over and managed to land on her feet. Bangell slowly stood upright, cradling her injured hand. Michelle stepped over to her and brushed some dirt and grass out of her hair.

"You seem determined to hurt yourself."

"We'll go in through the laundry." Bangell told Michelle as the ran around the side of the house. She caught a glimpse of someone unfamiliar in the lounge room and cursed silently. "Do you have a key on you?" Michelle asked.

"Don't need one." Bangell replied. The stood before the laundry door now and Bangell reached out with Eternal Flame, its arm sunk into the flyscreen door handle and through to the glass door on the other side. The metal bubbled up and turned red, then began to leak away and run down the door with a persistent sizzling. Michelle gasped as she saw two holes open up where the handles had been.

"What?"

"Explain later." Bangell replied shortly and opened the doors now lacking locks and handles.

With a shuddering breath, Bangell put a foot inside the house. She winced as her shoes made the slightest of screeching noises against the tiles. Michelle followed her carefully. Bangell opened the next door and stepped out into a carpeted hallway. In her caution, she had forgotten to breath and now gasped in air as abundantly and quietly as she could. A small murmur of conversation trickled down the hallway from the lounge room.

"Is there a plan?" Michelle whispered in Bangell's ear.

"No." The reply came back even quieter.

Michelle crept half a step behind Bangell and almost knocked her over when she stopped just before the lounge room's back entrance.

"Still half an hour 'til her daughter gets back, yeah?" A voice asked and Bangell nearly cried out in surprise from how close it was.

"Yes, right at the other end of my patience." Another voice replied.

"What are you going to do to my daughter?" An exasperated voice broke out, undoubtedly that of Bangell's mother. Bangell clenched her fists, ignoring the pain.

"If everything goes well, then we'll just have a chat and you'll start paying protection fees." Bangell recognised this one, it was the man who had Angel. "If not, you won't be seeing your daughter for a long time, depending on what your faith tells you about death." Bangell heard her mother let out a choked gasp.

"You're all despicable monsters." She hissed.

"You may be right." The coat-clad man replied lightly.

The doorbell rang and the whole house seemed to wake up.

"That's early." It was the second person Bangell had heard speak, the one with limited patience. A woman, she guessed from the depth and richness of the voice.

"Go answer that." The man with Angel told Bangell's mother. Bangell heard her rise and walk out to the front door. "Be alert, that girl's smart, that might not be her at the door."

"Y'think?" It was the first person she'd heard, a man, and he was within a metre. "You three, on your feet. Get ready for a fight." Bangell's eyes widened as she heard three people who had not yet spoken mumble assent and stand up and click away at what she assumed were pistols.

"Grant's just texted; the police busted our Split End base. This needs to go without a hitch, the boss'll already be mad." The man with Angel warned.

The front door opened and Bernard stepped forward. "Hello, we're with the police, we were told there might be dangerous people in the area. Would you happen know anything about that?" Bangell's terrified mother struggled to speak. Ohkran's head popped up from behind Bernard's shoulder and he squinted down the hall behind her, was that the tip of a hat?

"People…" She stammered "guns… my daughter, she's… I don't." Bernard placed a hand on one of the woman's arms that she'd brought up to her face.

"Thank you," He said gently, "why don't you step outside for a moment?" Slowly, he coaxed Bangell's mother out of the doorway and to one side while Liev marched in, followed closely by Ohkran.

Two clicks alerted Liev of the danger before he saw it. At the other end of the hallway, two men in dark suits stepped into view aiming pistols at his chest. Liev inhaled deeply and his two scarves shimmered and cackled to life as the men fired. The first two bullets hit the scarves and were deflected – as if by metal – into the floor, sending up flecks of carpet and small storms of sawdust. Liev continued, unhindered as the next shots were fired at his large frame. Liev swept one of his scarves across, catching both bullets and sending them down into the skirting board. He then lashed out with the other, golden energy zigzagged along its length and smacked both guns from their hands. Now holding both scarves, Liev slammed one of his forearms under one man's chin and used the scarf in his free hand to wrap around the other like a constrictor snake and pull him into the first man. The pair collapsed against a wall and a framed painting dropped on top of them.

Ohkran stepped around Liev and brought out Silverchair in time to block a hail of machine gun fire. The third mobster narrowed his eyes beneath his dark hat and kept the smoking weapon's barrel locked on the Russian. The man in the white coat sighed, walked over, and opened up a door to the backyard.

"I'd wondered when we'd run into you lot." He said.

"Just another day at the office for you?" Ohkran asked. "Terrorising the people?"

"This was one of the more memorable ones, if you'd care to know." He replied. "But I'm afraid that we must start making tracks."

"I wouldn't have thought so." Saying this, Ohkran took a step forward and felt something break beneath his foot with a _crk-sss. _For a vital second, Ohkran looked down, moving his foot to find a broken silver ball spewing out a purple gas beneath it. In that moment, he saw that there were hundreds of the ball bearing-like things scattered abundantly all over the floor. "Shit."

The man in white stepped outside the house and the woman, who had remained seated throughout the action, stood and stepped to the middle of the room and looked down her nose at Ohkran with malicious grace. She opened her mouth to speak, but a wooden chair hit her side and knocked her over. Everyone looked for the source and found the bandaged Bangell standing in the mouth of the side hallway, panting. The man standing near the hallway staggered back in surprise. Seeing an opportunity, Michelle burst into the lounge room and shoulder rushed the man, but an instinctive sweep from his arm knocked the student to the ground. A cloud of purple erupted where she landed, the steam-like substance licked at her skin as it rose. A similar instance occurred across the room as the woman stood looking disgruntled.

The mobster was the first to react, turning his gun to Bangell and firing. Eternal Flame stepped out of Bangell's body and as the bullets passed through it, they rapidly melted and dropped to the ground in orange, steaming puddles on the other side of it. The machine gun clicked after a second, empty. The man went to punch Bangell from behind, but Eternal Flame stepped back into its user and raised it arms out to intercept any attack. He stopped his movement halfway.

"That's quite the entrance." The woman spat as she dusted off her dress. Not missing a moment, Ohkran stepped up behind the reloading mobster and Silverchair smashed its fist into the back of his head, knocking his to the ground. Liev entered with his scarves back around his shoulders and his arms raised. There was silence for a moment.

"This became difficult." The woman sighed. "Cover up, Damien. Chemical Heart!" The man, Damien, shuffled away from Bangell and brought a pale cloth to his face as all of the silver balls shattered the room filled with thick purple smoke. On the ground, Michelle coughed a dry, raw cough and groaned. Eternal Flame moved its head out of Bangell's, stopping her inhaling any, but as the haze met some of her exposed blood, it immediately began festering in green bubbles. Ohkran spluttered angrily and buried his face in his elbow. Liev held his breath and waited cautiously as the woman's Stand shimmered into reality. It was silver and humanoid, with hundreds of small protrusions all over its body. It had no head; just a neck that ended in a bizarre collar, like that on a shirt. "Go to Murrall," She instructed Damien, "and shut the door."

Bangell went to intercept Damien, but as she reached out with Eternal Flame, dark armour appeared over his body and she hesitated. The armour faded as he moved away and left, shutting the glass door to the backyard behind him. The woman licked her lips in anticipation.

"Now, let's get started." Liev's eyes widened and he began to sprint at her. She snapped her fingers and more purple shot out of Chemical Heart's body, much thicker and more noxious looking than that already in the air. In the front hallway, Bernard saw the fumes spread and thicken. The pale paint on the walls stained orange as the smoke touched it.

"No thanks." He muttered, backing out of the house. No point in running in to help if it was going to kill him if he breathed.

Liev swiped out at where the woman had been. Blinded, his fingers were as successful as his eyes.

"Too slow!" The woman's voice taunted, sounding like it came from every corner of the room. Ohkran had Silverchair wave its arms wildly to try and fan himself a clear patch of air, but the smoke clung to its arms like the creepers in a jungle.

Bangell remained still. She could feel her wounds itch as the smoke seeped into her bandages. She breathed in, and then out. _I'm… alright?_ She slowly realised. It didn't hurt to breath and she wasn't coughing like Ohkran and Michelle were. _Oh god, Michelle!_ She knelt down and felt around. There! She touched her leg. Bangell crawled forward and found Michelle's head. She was awake, but her eyes were bloodshot and her breath creaked like a rusty hinge. She had Eternal Flame hold its hand over Michelle's mouth. The smoke sizzled and vanished as it met her Stand's form, but Michelle's breathing became spluttered and desperate. She took the hand away as the other girl tried to move. _Eternal Flame beats this smoke, but it also destroys any oxygen. Is that right? I was breathing _through _Eternal Flame earlier. Stands are weird._ She looked around, but the purple haze filled the room totally, she couldn't see more than thirty centimetres in any direction. She grunted as she lifted Michelle as best she could. _But I live here, I know the room's layout!_

"What's the matter? Suburban air not agreeing with you?"

"Bitch." Bangell grumbled as Michelle coughed, sending a cascade of blood and mucus over Bangell's shoulder. _Better out than in, I suppose._ As Bangell stumbled towards the back door, Ohkran had Silverchair punch the nearby wall. His own head followed his Stand's fist into the wall not a second later, and he gulped down a lungful of stale air and insulation packing.

"A clever one, are we?" The woman's voice was biting and right next to his ear. Ohkran swung around and punched out wildly into the fog fruitlessly.

Across the room, Liev's face was turning purple as he strained against his own body to breathe. He pulled his scarves up over his mouth and nose, but he could taste the poison through its fibres as he was forced to inhale. _I could suck it all into a black hole, _he considered, _but there'd be too much collateral._ _Turning invisible doesn't remove me from the physical world, so I can't escape it. _He struggled to move. _There's too little oxygen in the smoke to use hamon effectively, damn it!_

Bangell found the sliding glass door to the backyard and fumbled around Michelle's body to find the handle. With a strained and angry growl, Bangell pulled the door open and spilled out into the backyard. She tripped on the threshold and landed on her knees, dropping Michelle in the process. Michelle spluttered some more. Bangell helped the other girl roll over and after a few retches, she vomited red onto the grass. _Delightful._

With the door open, the purple fog rose out of the house and up into the sky. The change in the loungeroom was noticeable instantly, as the haze thinned out enough for both Ohkran and Liev to see Chemical Heart standing in the middle of the room. The smoke around the Stand was thicker, as it continued to spurt the toxin out, seemingly without end. Ohkran raised his fist as he approached it and Silverchair mimicked him. Chemical Heart did not react to his approach, but Ohkran felt he could be seen. Silverchair punched Chemical Heart and an echoing _clang _marked its contact.

"What?" Ohkran hissed. Chemical Heart hadn't moved; not to avoid, and not after being punched. Ohkran looked down at his hand. His skin had turned greyish and cracks in his flesh sprouted like tree roots from his knuckles and up his forearm. "Oh, you've got to-" His words were cut short by his own yell of anguish as blood seeped out the cracks and began to simmer with green bubbles. "Shit!" He stuffed his injured hand into his opposite armpit. "Don't touch it!" He called out to Liev, who he could see on the other side of the Stand. "Just get away." He advised as he staggered back the way he had come in.

"So, you managed to wriggle your way out, worm." The woman sneered at Bangell as she shakily stood up. Bangell stared back for a moment.

"I just hafta kill you and this is all over, yeah?" She asked, manifesting Eternal Flame above her.

"My, such an expression will ruin your pretty face."

"My 'pretty face' was ruined the moment I saw your rancid arse." Bangell snapped. "Now let me ruin yours." She stepped towards the woman, but the man, Damien, stepped in her way.

"Can't let you do that." Damien told her.

"Outta the way, prick." Bangell hissed. "Eternal Flame!"  
"Woodface!" A dark brown knight appeared between them and punched away Eternal Flame's outstretched orange hand. Bangell's eyes widened; this was the first time anything had been able to make contact with her Stand and not instantly melt. Woodface stepped in and punched at Bangell rapidly. The student grit her teeth and pulled back Eternal Flame to intercept. All the punches landed and Bangell felt her stomach begin to turn. The impacts she felt didn't seem to injure her more, but she felt them in her mind and it boggled her thoughts. Damien swore and pulled Woodface back, its fists – and correspondingly his – were black and smoking.

"Why won't you-" Bangell begun, stopping partway as she staggered backwards awkwardly, hugging her stomach. Damien wrung his hands while hissing painfully. Woodface remained stoic despite its smoking hands. Bangell managed to keep Eternal Flame in front of her, although it flickered reluctantly. Liev stepped out of seemingly nothing and punched Damien in the side of his face. The other man went airborne for about a metre before crumpling into a heap in the grass. Woodface turned around and slammed its fist into Liev, who grunted. Damien shakingly began to pick himself up as Woodface continued to hammer Liev repeatedly. Liev brought his arms up to his face, ignoring the hits to his stomach. He strained for stability as a _cr-cr-cr _noise begun to accompany each punch. Bangell watched this cautiously. _It's already punched Eternal Flame, and it looks to be made of wood, so its hands should be burnt into charcoal – _she could see black marks on Liev's arms and body where he had been hit – _meaning that… _As these thoughts occurred to her, Damien let out an agonised scream as Woodface's hands shattered into black shards, his own fingers and hands bending and cracking into unnatural angles.

"You- how? I- uh- what?" The woman stammered. Bangell straightened up, massaged one of her temples briefly, and stepped towards her.

"Shut up and melt." Bangell hissed at her, sending her Stand forward. Murrall reached out and pulled the woman back, away from her assailant.

"That's quite enough." He decided. Two large white and gold wings erupted from Murrall's back and flapped once to launch himself and the woman into the air. Bangell scowled up at them and made Eternal Flame rise higher into the air. Heavy footsteps from behind made Bangell rapidly pull her Stand back. Chemical Heart ran past her with an awkward gait. Bangell grunted and Eternal Flame scratched out at it, managing only a glancing scrape along its cheek. The woman grunted as a black smear began to bubble up from one of her ears down to her chin. Chemical Heart jumped up and faded into its user as Murrall flapped his wings again and went even higher.

"Get down!" Ohkran rasped as he burst into the backyard sporting the unconscious gangster's machine gun. Up in the air, Murrall grunted irritably and performed a small dive to dodge Ohkran's initial spray of bullets before twisting around and using a nearby two-story house as cover. Panting, Ohkran dropped the gun and shoved two fingers to the back of his throat and threw up the contents of his stomach, which came accompanied with purple vapours. "Disgusting." He muttered heavily as he wiped his mouth. As the adrenaline faded from Bangell's system, her loss of blood made itself felt and she collapsed unceremoniously into the grass.

Bernard tentatively poked his head out of the hallway, observed the carnage, then emerged. He was closely followed by Bangell's mother, who looked around her ruined lounge room hopelessly. Bernard knelt down and rolled Michelle over into the recovery position while Liev delicately lay Bangell down properly, trying to avoid touching her numerous injuries.

"Well, this turned out to be a right mess." Bernard said.

"No thanks to you." Ohkran spat.

"Someone's gotta pick up your broken arse." He retorted. Ohkran smiled with a mix of amusement and pain.

"Never come across a Stand that could poison the air like that." Ohkran said. "Shit, that's dangerous."

Police sirens squealed from the other side of the house and Bangell's mother stepping into the backyard with her face buried in her hands.

"What the hell even happened today?" She asked the mess around her. Police and paramedics filed into the backyard and begun cleaning up. Bangell and Michelle were put onto stretchers while the gangsters and Damien were escorted out in handcuffs, something the latter groaned painfully about. A paramedic tried to comfort Bangell's mother, but all she responded with was "I'm just so confused. I'm not sad, I'm just… I don't understand."

Ohkran winced as a bandage was wrapped around his hand.

"Come back to the hospital for an x-ray." The paramedic recommended. Ohkran nodded and looked over to Bernard.

"I suppose it's safer if we all go, isn't it?"

"Yeah, no doubt they'll know where we are; this wasn't exactly a low-profile skirmish." Bernard agreed. "Liev and I are still fairly fresh too, to you won't be defenceless."

"Do you think they'll try and attack us in a hospital?" The phrase brought a foul taste to Ohkran's mouth, and he was pretty sure it wasn't from the vapours.

"Who knows? They're a gang that erodes society with their operations, yet there's always an odd code of honour among even criminals." Bernard sighed. "It's safer to go to the hospital," he concluded, "this whole thing's a mess, so we should get fixed up when we can."

"I agree. I should be able to sense if anyone seeking to harm us comes near." Liev said suddenly, startling Bernard.

**As I said in the intro, I thought a lot about this chapter, and that's primarily because I deviated completely from my initial plan. I always take notes for a story for several chapters before I commit to writing it so that I can confirm with myself that it's something I want to do. The deviations started around chapter three for this story, but this chapter was not even something I foresaw when I was planning. When writing Player Killer Killer, it took until about chapter eighteen or something for me to start making up new stuff. Oh well, I'm having fun at least. It's nice to be able to surprise myself with my own ideas sometimes. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and look forward to reading the next. I'll see you next time! **


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